1. Field
Example embodiments relate to magnetic tunnel junction devices, electronic devices including a magnetic tunnel junction device and methods of fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a horizontal magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) using magnesium oxide (MgO) as a tunneling layer (hereinafter referred to as “horizontal MgO-MTJ”) uses coherent tunneling in order to obtain a substantially high magnetic resistance (MR) ratio. In the horizontal MgO-MTJ, a tunneling layer has a structure including CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB.
In order to use the coherent tunneling, the texture of a material forming an interface with MgO is important. That is, the texturing, or crystallizing, of cobalt iron boron (CoFeB) with an annealing operation is important. In other words, it is important to crystallize CoFeB so that CoFeB may be crystallized according to the crystallization structure of MgO.
As the integrity of semiconductor devices increases, research on a perpendicular MTJ is being actively conducted. In addition, research involving the use of coherent tunneling is being conducted, specifically the use of MgO as a tunneling layer and the realization of a perpendicular MTJ having a substantially high MR ratio. In order to use the coherent tunneling in a perpendicular MTJ, research using an amorphous perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) material is being conducted. The amorphous PMA material may be an amorphous rare earth transition metal alloy.
The perpendicular MTJ is annealed at a temperature of about 300° C. in order to ensure a substantially high MR ratio. However, most of the amorphous rare earth transition metal alloys that are crystallized at an annealing temperature of about 300° C. lose their PMA characteristics.